Staff Pick

Curmudgeons and humor lovers, rejoice! Legendary comedian Carlin is back with even more outrageous, controversial observations and criticisms on everything from politics to the Ten Commandments. Recommended by Chris Bolton, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

George Carlin's legendary irreverence and iconoclasm are on full display in When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? as he vainly scours the American landscape for signs of intelligence in his third national bestseller. Ranging from his absurdist side (Message from a Cockroach; TV News: The Death of Humpty Dumpty; Tips for Serial Killers) to his unerring ear for American speech (Politician Talk; Societal Clichés; Euphemisms: 13 sections) to his unsparing views on America and its values (War, God, Stuff Like That; Zero Tolerance; Tired of the Handi-crap), Carlin delivers everything that his fans expect, and then adds a few surprises.

Carlin on the battle of the sexes:

Here's all you have to know about men and women: Women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid.

Review:

"Stand-up comedian, TV writer and silver screen actor Carlin gets louder, angrier and more inventive with each passing year, and following 2001's bestselling Napalm and Silly Putty, he fires off searing satires, stinging social commentary and oblique one-liners in all directions. He targets Diane Sawyer's news delivery and the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, dopey athletes and cutthroat businessmen in wound up, jumpy paragraphs. Crudeness abounds ('Do you think Dale Evans ever yelled, "Giddyup, Roy!" when she was getting fucked by Roy Rogers?'), but so does righteous indignation ('The energy criminals now refer to oil drilling as oil exploration. Instead of Mobil and Exxon, they'd rather you picture Lewis and Clark'). Some offbeat observations ('Wouldn't it be weird if they just buried you alive when you got to be sixty-five?') serve as springboards for mini-essays. But the theme, ultimately, is language. From the syntax of corporate rebranding (Patagonian tooth fish becomes Chilean sea bass) to the ethics of speechmaking ('Leader of the free world. I don't know when we're going to retire that stupid shit, but personally I've heard it quite long enough'), bad grammar, marketing lingo, meaningless sentiments, political correctness ('America's newest form of intolerance') and euphemisms all come under serious attack, making this a surprisingly fitting companion — a sort of bad-ass cousin — to Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Agent, Jerold Hamza.Forecast: Carlin's first book, Brain Droppings, spent some 40 weeks on the Times bestseller list; Napalm didn't match that, but it was no slouch. Expect Carlin's latest to hit the lists as soon as his Today show spot airs, if not before. " Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"Here are more of his irreverent, hilarious takes on contemporary social and political issues...Carlin doesn't let current notions of what is politically correct stand in the way of his taking a jab." Booklist

Review:

"Whether you like this book or not depends on whether you like how Carlin's humor has transmogrified. If you do, buy the book. If you don't, read his first one, Brain Droppings, and stop there." Rocky Mountain News

Synopsis:

Now in paperback comes the New York Times bestseller that takes readers on a riotous journey through the mind of one of America's premier comics.

Curmudgeons and humor lovers, rejoice! Legendary comedian Carlin is back with even more outrageous, controversial observations and criticisms on everything from politics to the Ten Commandments.

by Chris Bolton

"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"Stand-up comedian, TV writer and silver screen actor Carlin gets louder, angrier and more inventive with each passing year, and following 2001's bestselling Napalm and Silly Putty, he fires off searing satires, stinging social commentary and oblique one-liners in all directions. He targets Diane Sawyer's news delivery and the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, dopey athletes and cutthroat businessmen in wound up, jumpy paragraphs. Crudeness abounds ('Do you think Dale Evans ever yelled, "Giddyup, Roy!" when she was getting fucked by Roy Rogers?'), but so does righteous indignation ('The energy criminals now refer to oil drilling as oil exploration. Instead of Mobil and Exxon, they'd rather you picture Lewis and Clark'). Some offbeat observations ('Wouldn't it be weird if they just buried you alive when you got to be sixty-five?') serve as springboards for mini-essays. But the theme, ultimately, is language. From the syntax of corporate rebranding (Patagonian tooth fish becomes Chilean sea bass) to the ethics of speechmaking ('Leader of the free world. I don't know when we're going to retire that stupid shit, but personally I've heard it quite long enough'), bad grammar, marketing lingo, meaningless sentiments, political correctness ('America's newest form of intolerance') and euphemisms all come under serious attack, making this a surprisingly fitting companion — a sort of bad-ass cousin — to Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Agent, Jerold Hamza.Forecast: Carlin's first book, Brain Droppings, spent some 40 weeks on the Times bestseller list; Napalm didn't match that, but it was no slouch. Expect Carlin's latest to hit the lists as soon as his Today show spot airs, if not before. " Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Review"
by Booklist,
"Here are more of his irreverent, hilarious takes on contemporary social and political issues...Carlin doesn't let current notions of what is politically correct stand in the way of his taking a jab."

"Review"
by Rocky Mountain News,
"Whether you like this book or not depends on whether you like how Carlin's humor has transmogrified. If you do, buy the book. If you don't, read his first one, Brain Droppings, and stop there."

"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
Now in paperback comes the New York Times bestseller that takes readers on a riotous journey through the mind of one of America's premier comics.

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